Restoration Tips

Let's face it-not all of us have the tools, skills and space to restore a muscle car by ourselves. Where does this leave us? There are hundreds of restoration professionals out there who can tackle even the rustiest hulk of a formerly glorious car. Before you can choose a restoration shop, you've got to decide what you want the finished car to be (Concours-winning show car, or simply a nice driver?) and how much money you can spend to get it to that point.

The collector-car world loves Mopars right now; witness the regular six-figure pricing that correct Plymouths and Dodges are netting when they cross the auction block. This has made Julius Steuer's life a lot more difficult.

Restoring cars can be a rewarding hobby or profession for those with even basic mechanical aptitude. But there are times it can get frustrating. Patience is crucial. Paying attention to what you are doing and not getting in a hurry are two key factors to a successful restoration. Sometimes, there is close-up work that has to be done, which can require reading glasses for those of us approaching middle age.

We can just picture the scene: It's the Summer of Love, and Randy DeLisio is working at the local AMC dealership, just a few miles from where his shop in Lyons, New York, stands now. We don't know whether he signed up, or the letter came in the mailbox, but 18 months in the Army have a way of making a dividing line between youth and adulthood.

We see an awful lot of cars in this business, traveling as we do to auctions, concours, car shows, national conventions and neighborhood cruise nights. The only way to rise to the top of the heap among all the other nice cars out there is to be absolutely obsessive about detailing a car. A top-quality, well-planned detail job can turn a twenty-footer into a standout when it comes time to pick up the trophies, or wring those last few dollars out of a potential bidder at auction.

With so many different paint types available today, choosing the right kind of paint to refinish your old car or truck can be one of the most difficult decisions facing car owners. Do you choose the type of paint that is correct for your era-built car, or do you upgrade and go with a more durable urethane for a longer lasting finish? Choosing the correct paint type will not only affect the cost of the refinishing process, but it can have a long-term effect on your car's value.

Autobody painting is, without question, the hardest, most labor-intensive element of restoring an old car or truck. It requires lots of preliminary preparation, such as cleaning, sanding and priming, extensive planning ahead regarding weather conditions and humidity, and a whole lot of hands-on experience if you want to achieve professional-quality results. Add in the fact that you can't hide your mistakes like you can when rebuilding mechanical systems, and painting becomes the one task that most home restorers want to avoid.

We know how it is. You buy a new computer, and the market is suddenly flooded with cheaper and faster machines. You buy a cell phone, and a week later there's a new phone half the price of yours that can take photos, floss your teeth, manage your 401(k), and check your cholesterol level.

Garages throughout America and Canada, as well as those belonging to our friends in Europe, are humming with activity, as proven by the 34 restoration profiles shown on these 16 pages. From basic repaints to multi-year, body-off restorations, enthusiasts everywhere are making their dreams come true by building the cars they always wanted to own.

Would you put electronic fuel injection on your carbureted classic and call it stock? Would you add heated, power-adjusted leather seats and claim the factory provided them? Would you swap out your bias-plies for radials and hope nobody spots them?

When the topic of stripping old paint comes up, the word "laborious" quickly springs to mind. The fact is there's absolutely nothing sexy about removing old paint, but if you want your project car or truck to look new again, this less-than-pretty process is step one.